Number of Births in the US

Boom & Bust: Birth Rates in the Twentieth Century

The graph presented is a compilation of 52 data points of time vs. birth rate
(per 10,000 23-year old women) in the United States. The years range from 1917-1975.
The graph begins in the middle of World War I. At this time people began to recover
from the war, and focused on enjoying their new found wealth and freedom -- hence
the Roaring 20s. Women became more intent on living their own lives to the fullest
rather than procreating for the new generation. These "flappers" experienced
new freedom, and a willingness to live their own life, free from child caring.

The depression then hit the United States in 1929, and there was a local minimum
of birth rates for the depression in 1935 at 125.7. Childbirth began to once again
pick up as the depression slowly came to an end, and World War II began. However,
at the end of World War II, the United States experienced the "Baby Boom"
from 1946-1966. Birth rates peaked at the year 1957 at 268.8, and slowly dropped
after this. This occurred because of the new found freedoms of women, including
the increase of sex among teens and the increased use of drugs. Since the birth
rates of this data are of 23-year old women, it is not surprising to see that
during the baby boom, birth rates soared amongst young women. After 1960, the
birth rates slowly drop off as the baby boom ended. Women became more involved
in feminism, and being "tied down to a family" wasn't desired by young
women as much as it had been.

This graph accurately depicts the fluctuations of birth rates through the
years, and clearly accentuates how the time period change affected women and their
desires for children.

Samuel Bernard -- 2002

Multiple Births on the Rise

The data for this essay were taken from a report by The National Center for
Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics Report, Vol. 50, No.5, February 12,
2002. It can be found online at. In all of the graphs, there is a positive correlation,
showing that the number of multiple births occuring over the span of the years
between 1989 and 2000 has increased in each of the categories (twins, triplets,
quadruplets, and higher). The dramatic rise in multiple births, especially in
the triplet, quadruplet, and higher categories can be attributed to advances in
and greater access to asssited reproductive medicine. This includes ovulation-inducing
drugs and assisted reproductive techniques such as in vitro fertilization. Although
these reproductive techniques have helped many women conceive multiple babies,
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Society
of Reproductive Medicine issued reports intended to discourage and prevent women
from having triple and higher pregnancies because of the elevated risks of poor
outcomes.

Click on any graph to view a larger copy. Click here to view the raw data.